Monday, June 18, 2012

motel mondays: iowa edition

I just got back from a fun family filled trip to Iowa for a cousin's wedding. I come from a large family and it is always a blast seeing my cousins and aunts and uncles. Today's motel, the Strawberry Motel, is thanks to my family in Iowa. They all read my blog and told me about this great place called Strawberry Point with a big old strawberry in town that had a vintage motel. So, some aunts and I made the trek so I could snap some photos of the groovy sign. Pretty cute, right?

And I love that all the doors to each room are painted a great shade of strawberry red!

And let's not forget the fab big strawberry in town! It sits above City Hall. No idea what the history on this beauty is but guessing it must be mid century from the looks of the building below.

And I loved the groovy concrete and glass design on the side of the building. Definitely going to use it as inspiration for a future DIY.

During a break between wedding festivities I visited a cool place in town, owned by my uncle, called Plum Creek Archery (if you are ever in Dyersville Iowa and have a hankering to learn how to use a bow and arrow you should check it out!). Ever since I witnessed those cool guys in Bhutan practicing archery I was dying to try for myself and see just how hard it is! So my aunt and I went to give it a shot one morning.

My first try was a little off target. More like, on door. Somehow I completely missed the target and managed to shoot my arrow directly through the storage room door way too the left of the targets. Oops.

I will say it is a lot harder than it looks and I thought I was strong and fit until the first time I pulled the bow back! Holy cow is that hard!

Happy to say I vastly improved my aim as I got fairly close to the bullseye in my next tries. I can't wait for my next visit so I can try it again! Oh and one of the guys working there showed me a cool pink bow that he said would be perfect for me. Definitely the girliest of all the choices, and it probably would have been my first choice. My aunt pointed out that I was probably their first visitor trying archery out while wearing a sundress.

my cousin's son deep in the field of dreams

I grew up going on family trips to Iowa every year and it wasn't until recent years that I noticed just how beautiful the countryside is. The miles and miles of bright green farmland set against the blue skies with fluffy white clouds are just breathtaking. When I was a kid I just focused on my dislike of the pungent smell of manure in the air but now just looking at how beautiful it really is kinda masks the smell. Not totally, but kinda.

So, it's common in my family to get married in your early to mid 20's, right out of college. My aunts and uncles like to place bets on who is the next niece or nephew to be married. Often, when we are all together hanging out, they will throw out names about who they think will be next in line. The funny thing is, over the last few years, I haven't even been mentioned as a possibility. Perhaps they have given up hope for me? Maybe they know something I don't? Hmmm...

I mentioned a while back that my cousin's fiance reached out and asked for my help with bargain decorating ideas for their wedding. We had never met before this past weekend but over the last 6 months we have been communicating via text and pinterest. I thought she should use vintage glass jars (my aunts have tons from all of the canning and jam making they do) and wildflowers along with burlap table runners over the white tablecloths. It would cost next to nothing and look super cute! So, the day before the wedding my aunts and I went picking flowers in the ditches and sides of road around town in order to fill the jars for the pergola they were being married under as well as the tables in the reception hall.

I'm pretty proud of how we all worked together to make it look great in such a short amount of time! And the bride and groom loved it, the wedding was a blast, and I got to dance with my young nephews to my new favorite summer guilty pleasure song, Call Me Maybe... My 8 year old nephew is pretty skilled at recreating the moves made famous by the Harvard baseball team...

While flower picking we were joking to look out for poison ivy... well, I got back from Iowa late last night and am scheduled for the dermatologist this afternoon. It seems I have returned from Iowa with a souvenier rash on my right arm. Oops...

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